Antwerp Giants

Port of Antwerp Giants
Leagues	Belgian League, FIBA Europe Cup
Founded	2005
Arena	Lotto Arena
Capacity	5,218
Location	Antwerp, Belgium
Team colors	White, Red
President	Roger Roels
Head coach	Roel Moors
Championships	1 Belgian Championships 2 Belgian Cups 2 Belgian Supercups
Retired numbers	1 (4)
Website	www.antwerpgiants.be
Uniforms
Home Away

Logo of the Antwerp Giants, without sponsor

Antwerp Giants, named Port of Antwerp Giants for sponsorship reasons, are a Belgian professional basketball club based in Antwerp. Their home arena is Lotto Arena. The club was created from the merger of Sobabee and Racing Mechelen. Then named Racing Basket Antwerpen, it was renamed Antwerp Giants in 2005.

History

In 1995, Sobabee from Antwerp and Racing Mechelen merged into Racing Basket Antwerpen. The club made its debut on the highest stage in Belgium in the 1998–99 season. Antwerp was one of the top 3 teams till 2001. In the 1999–2000 season the club won its first national championship as Telindus Antwerpen, by beating Oostende 3–1 in the Finals. The team had a setback after the championship year and ended on the 6th, 7th or 8th place for five seasons in a row. In 2007 the club won its third trophy, by winning the Belgian Basketball Cup for the second time.

The second team of the club plays in the Belgian Second Division, while the women's team participates in the regional competition.

The team holds the attendance record for a basketball game in Belgium with 17.135 spectators on 31 January 2015 during their match against Spirou Charleroi in the Sportpaleis.^[1]

Trophies

• Belgian Championship (1):

2000

• Belgian Cup (2):

2000, 2007

• Belgian Supercup (2):

2007, 2016

Names

Due to sponsorship reasons, the name of the club has frequently changed:

• 1996–1999: Racing Basket Antwerpen
• 1999–2004: Telindus Racing Antwerpen
• 2005–2006: Daewoo Racing Antwerpen
• 2006–2008: Antwerp Giants Sanex
• 2008–2011: Antwerp Diamond Giants
• 2011–present: Port of Antwerp Giants

Players

Retired numbers

Antwerp Giants retired numbers
N°	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure	Retired
4		Roel Moors	PG	2000–2002, 2009–2015	October 8, 2015[2]

Current roster

Port of Antwerp Giants roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Ht. Age G 5 Kanda, Ordane 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 20 – 9 September 1996 PG 6 Rojas Palma, Andreas 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 24 – 12 May 1992 C 7 Waldow, Brad 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 24 – 30 December 1991 PF 8 Basabe, Melsahn 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 24 – 29 May 1992 F 9 Smith, Mike 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 29 – 17 July 1987 PG 10 McKinney, Mikh 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 24 – 26 January 1992 G 11 Vervoort, Thibaut 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 18 – 10 December 1997 F 12 Mwema, Jean-Marc (C) 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) 27 – 5 December 1989 PF 13 Schoepen, Yoeri 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 22 – 30 March 1994 G 14 Vaughn, Kwame 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 25 – 31 May 1991 G 15 Marchant, Dorian 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 23 – 24 April 1993 G 20 Peeters, Philippe 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) 21 – 10 January 1995 PF 22 Scott, Carleton 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 28 – 9 October 1988 PF 23 Schoepen, Yannick 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 24 – 14 February 1992 C 24 Langford, Kevin 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) 30 – 21 December 1985	Head coach Roel Moors Assistant coach(es) Eddy Faus Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Updated: March 29, 2016

Season by season

Season	Tier	League	Pos.	Postseason	Belgian Cup	Tier European competitions
2010–11	1	Ethias League	5	Quarterfinalist	Semifinalist	3 EuroChallenge – Last 16
2011–12	1	Ethias League	2	Semifinalist	Runner-up	3 EuroChallenge – Last 16
2012–13	1	Ethias League	5	Quarterfinalist	Last 16	3 EuroChallenge – Regular season
2013–14	1	Ethias League	6	Semifinalist	Runner-up	3 EuroChallenge – Last 16
2014–15	1	Scooore League	6	Quarterfinalist	Semifinalist	3 EuroChallenge – Last 16
2015–16	1	Scooore League	5	Quarterfinalist	Runner-up	2 FIBA Europe Cup – Quarterfinalist

Former players

A list of former players of Antwerp Giants since 2000.

Jordan Callahan (2014)

Dennis Donkor (2008-14)

Maxime De Zeeuw (2012-14)

Yannick Driesen (2012-14)

Marko Špica (2013-14)

Barry Stewart (2013-14)

Scott Thomas (2013-14)

Frank Turner (2013-14)

Clayton Vette (2013-14)

Tim Black (2008-13)

Bryan Hopkins (2008-13)

Maarten Rademakers (2009-13)

Ralph Biggs (2010-13)

Jason Love (2012-13)

LaMarcus Reed (2012–13)

Gregg Thondique (2012-13)

Salah Mejri (2010–12)

Michael Roll (2010–12)

Darnell Wilson (2010–12)

Mike Morrison (2011–12)

Andreas Rojas Palma (2011–12)

Julian Vaughn (2011–12)

Alan Wiggins (2011–12)

Randy Oveneke (2008–11)

Graham Brown (2009–11)

Brecht Guillemyn (2009–11)

Trent Strickland (2009–11)

Jef Vander Jonckheyd (2001–03, 2010–11)

Wim Vandenweyer (2010–11)

Alexander Lichodzijewski (2006–10)

Brandon Gay (2007–10)

Christophe Beghin (2008–10)

Thomas Gardner (2009–10)

Thomas De Thaey (2009–10)

Thomas Lamot (2005–09)

Yves Dupont (2006–09)

Nick Oudendag (2007–09)

Lee Wouters (2007–09)

Brian Lynch (2008–09)

David Toya (2005–08)

Mladen Sekularac (2005–08)

Vincent Verbeeck (2005–08)

Ryan Sears (2007–08)

Ian Hanavan (2007–08)

Kris Sergeant (2007–08)

Ayinde Ubaka (2007–08)

Gabriel Mikulas (2007–08)

Gianni Fiermans (2007–08)

Frederik Biot (2007–08)

Ed Norvell (2003–07)

Len Matela (2003–07)

Gur Shelef (2005–07)

Senne Geukens (2005–07)

Thomas Dreesen (2005–07)

Bob Tshitenge (2005–07)

Dwayne Archbold (2006–07)

Kelley McClure (2006–07)

Pieter Loridon (2000–06)

Domien Loubry (2001–06)

Sebastien Bellin (2003–06)

Peter Lorant (2005–06)

Damir Milacic (2005–06)

Duke Tshomba (2003–05)

Sam Rotsaert (2003–05)

Paul Bayer (2000–02, 2004–05)

Ron Ellis (2004–05)

Piet De Bel (2004–05)

Jozef Casteels (2001–04)

David Arigbabu (2003–04)

Igor Starcevic (2003–04)

Charles Bennett (2003–04)

Niels Vinckx (2003–04)

Lennert Swaeb (2003–04)

Joeri Moonen (2003–04)

Michael Krikemans (2000–03)

Maarten Goethaert (2000–03)

Tezale Archie (2002–03)

Chris Young (2002–03)

Miroslaw Lopatka (2002–03)

Francisco de Miranda (2002–03)

Hugo Sterk (2002–03)

Bogdan Karebin (2002–03)

Vincent Krieger (2002–03)

Ilia Bocevski (2002–03)

Stefan Sappenberghs (2000–02)

Darius Hall (2001–02)

Gerben Van Dorpe (2001–02)

Gyasi Cline-Heard (2001–02)

Kostyantyn Galenkin (2001–02)

Joe Ingegneri (2001–02)

Nakiae Miller (2001–02)

Shaun Stonerook (2000–01)

Otis Hill (2000–01)

John O'Connell (2000–01)

Milos Babic (2000–01)

Vinny Arrendell (2000–01)

Dave d'Haens (2000–01)

References

1. "Roundup: Magical 'Night of the Giants'". Retrieved February 3, 2015.

External links

• Antwerp Giants official Web site